It is mainly composed of sand shale, limestone, and various metamorphic rocks.
The Ailao Mountains trend northwest-southeast, from Chuxiong City in the north, to Luchun County in the south, coming to a total length of about 500 kilometers.
The main peak is named Ailao Mountain, and is located in the west of Xinping Yi and Dai Autonomous County, with an altitude of 3,166 meters.
In May 1988, China established the Ailao Mountain National Nature Reserve in the Xujiaba area of the northern section of the Ailao Mountain Range, which is home to nearly 1,500 species of plants and more than 800 species of wild animals.
[5] In November 2021, four geological surveyors went missing in the Ailao Mountains and died from hypothermia-induced cardiogenic shock.